Los Angeles Theater Review: URBAN DEATH (Zombie Joe’s Underground in North Hollywood)

L. A. THEATER RISES FROM THE DEAD

With an assemblage of the bravest actors in Los Angeles, Zombie Joe returns with an all-new Urban Death, the naturalistic horror show in the style of Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. In just under an hour, this ghoulishly delightful series of vignettes serves up unfathomable repulsions, profound evils, distressed demons, wriggling wraiths, and some of the most disturbing images you will ever see. Directed with humor and panache by Zombie Joe, who utilizes a creepy and eclectic score by Christopher Reiner and Michael Maio, this is no bleak worldview, but a sensory-inducing shockfest of images and short scenes, some of which contain better storytelling in 15 seconds than most other Horror Shows known as Los Angeles Theater achieve in 90 minutes. With titles such as “Dancing with a Dead Girl,” “Ghost of Drowned Girl,” and “Chelsea Smothers her Lovers,” it is frighteningly clear why patrons of Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol were known to get aroused by scenes of intense savagery. But this is all in fun, whether or not you get a woody during “Asphyxiation,” and I promise you that the gruesome giddiness in North Hollywood will be an experience you will dismember the rest of your wife…I mean, remember the rest of your life. There were 39 vignettes on opening night, but my favorite was Willy Romano-Pugh smacking himself in the face, bare-knuckling his own jaw, and whomping on his chest until it was raw while repeating over and over, “Vote for Me.” Not since the Reagan presidency have I been so scared. Thank you to Adalys Alvarez, Vanessa Cate, Denise Devin, Mark Hein, Cimcie Nichols, Emmanuel Paraskiv, Chelsea Rose, Kevin Van Cott, Roger K. Weiss, Corey Zicari, and, of course, that glorious fucking weirdo, Zombie Joe.

photos by Zombie Joe

Urban Death
Zombie Joe’s Underground in North Hollywwod
Saturdays @ 11:00 p.m.
scheduled to end on April 27, 2013 EXTENDED through June 8, 2013
for tickets, call (818) 202- 4120 or visit http://www.zombiejoes.com/
for more info, visit http://www.UrbanDeath.com